“What Is the West?”
The Shifting Borders of the West.
Asking the Right Questions.
10. The Medieval West in Crisis.
A Time of Death.
A Cold Wind from the East.
Economic Depression and Social Turmoil.
An Age of Warfare.
A Troubled Church and the Demand for Religious Comfort.
The Culture of Loss.
Conclusion: Looking Inward.
Justice in History: The Trial of Joan of Arc.
The Human Body in History: The Black Death: The Signs of Disease.
11. The Italian Renaissance and Beyond: The Politics of Culture.
The Cradle of the Renaissance: The Italian City-States.
The Influence of Ancient Culture.
Antiquity and Nature in the Arts.
The Early Modern European State System.
Conclusion: The Politics of Culture.
Justice in History: Revenge as Private Justice.
The Human Body in History: The Natural and the Ideal Body in Renaissance Art.
12. The West and the World: The Significance of Global Encounters, 1450-1650.
Europeans in Africa.
Europeans in the Americas.
Europeans in Asia.
The Beginnings of the Global System.
Conclusion: The Significance of the Global Encounters.
Justice in History: The Difficulties of a Transatlantic Marriage.
Encounters and Transformations: Between Indian and Christian: Creating Hybrid Religion in Mexico.
13. The Reformation of Religion.
Causes of the Reformation.
The Lutheran Reformation.
The Diversity of Protestantism.
The Catholic Reformation.
The Reformation of the Arts.
Conclusion: Competing Understandings.
Justice in History: The Trial of Anne Boleyn: The Dynastic Crime.
The Human Body in History: The Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila: The Body and the Soul.
14. The Age of Confessional Division.
The Peoples of Early Modern Europe.
Disciplining the People.
The Confessional States.
States and Confessions in Eastern Europe.
Conclusion: The Divisions of the West.
Justice in History: The Spanish Auto da Fe: The Power of Penance.
Encounters and Transformations: The Introduction of the Table Fork: The New Sign of Western Civilization.
15. Absolutism and State-Building in Europe, 1618-1715.
The Nature of Absolutism.
The Absolutist State in France and Spain.
Absolutism and State Building in Central and Eastern Europe.
Resistance to Absolutism in England and the Dutch Republic.
Conclusion: The Western State in the Age of Absolutism.
Justice in History: The Trial of Charles I.
Encounters and Transformations: St. Petersburg and the West.
16. The Scientific Revolution.
The Discoveries and Achievements of the Scientific Revolution.
The Search for Scientific Knowledge.
The Causes of the Scientific Revolution.
The Intellectual Effects of the Scientific Revolution.
Humans and the Natural World.
Conclusion: Science and Western Culture.
Justice in History: The Trial of Galileo.
The Human Body in History: Dissecting the Human Corpse.
17. The West and the World: Empire, Trade and War, 1650-1815.
European Empires in Americas and Asia.
Warfare in Europe, North America, and Asia.
The Atlantic World.
Encounters between Europeans and Asians.
The Crisis of Empire and the Atlantic Revolutions.
Conclusion: The Rise and Reshaping of the West.
Justice in History: The Trial of the Mutineers on the Bounty.
Encounters and Transformations: Chocolate in the New World and the Old.
18. Eighteenth-Century Society and Culture.
The Aristocracy.
Challenges to Aristocratic Dominance.
The Enlightenment.
The Impact of the Enlightenment.
Conclusion: The Enlightenment and Western Identity.
Justice in History: A Case of Infanticide in the Age of the Enlightenment.
The Human Body in History: Bathing in the West.
19. The Age of the French Revolution, 1789-1815.
The First French Revolution 1789-1791.
The French Republic, 1792-1799.
Cultural Change in France During the Revolution.
The Napoleonic Era, 1799-1815.
The Legacy of the French Revolution.
Conclusion: The French Revolution and Western Civilization.
Justice in History: The Trial of Louis XVI.
Encounters and Transformations: The French Encounter the Egyptians, 1798-1801.
Glossary.
Index.